Frequent readers of Artvoice have seen our long running series The Cult of NXIVM. The series exposes over and over again that behind NXIVM’s so called executive coaching program is a world of lurid sex, powerful money, danger, vengeance and alleged criminality. At the center of it all, and the target of our articles, is Keith Raniere, the former TV infomercial conman turned self-proclaimed spiritual guru. Why would we repeatedly keep writing about the same subject? We keep writing about it because law enforcement still hasn’t taken action, because the courts still haven’t taken action, because no prosecuting attorney has taken action.
Sooner or later some ambitious District Attorney is going to realize that an investigation and indictment of Rani-ere and NXIVM will not only serve justice, it will also be a cornerstone to their career. The involvement of the Seagram’s fortune heiresses Clare and Sara Bronfman and the sensational sexual depravity and alleged criminal activity at NXIVM, means the prosecution of Keith Raniere will gain national and international press attention. It will catapult that prosecutor from unknown attorney to legal stardom.
It’s difficult to believe that in spite of all that’s been written by investigative journalists in Forbes, Vanity Fair, Al-bany Times Union, NY Post, New York Observer, Village Voice, The Artvoice, WorldCultWatch.org and many other outlets NXIVM has apparently never been investigated by the FBI or the NY Attorney General. Keith Ra-niere has never had to answer for allegations of statutory rapes, unlawful imprisonment, suicides, money laun-dering and more. No law enforcement agency or court has questioned Raniere’s abusive manipulation of the court system in his relentless persecution of former NXIVM members. And the IRS has apparently never investi-gated Raniere or NXIVM in spite of all the shady money used, allegedly, for bribes, coercion, frivolous lawsuits, and the unaccounted millions of Bronfman dollars in Raniere’s control that simply disappeared, and the report-ed hidden movement of millions of dollars across the Mexican border.
Even a short list of Raniere’s alleged activities should pique a prosecutor’s interest. Here are some examples of crimes and misdeeds his followers and other eyewitnesses firmly allege he has committed:
He and the Bronfman sisters hired various investigative firms, including Groupe Canaprobe of Montreal and directed them to illegally obtain personal and financial records of six federal judges; U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer; the publisher and editor of the Albany Times Union; an investigative reporter at the Times Union and the per-sonal and financial records of Rick Ross, a professional cult expert and deprogrammer and other adversaries. All of the federal judges were overseeing cases where NXIVM was suing some enemy.
Raniere took $1.6 million from former NXIVM financial advisor and board member Barbara Bouchey and when she asked for it back tried to have her indicted for extortion. He and the Bronfmans also allegedly illegally hacked into her computer and stole banking, emails and phone records. Ironically Raniere and the Bronfman sisters charged Bouchey with hacking into a NXIVM computer. Defending herself against those charges drove Bouchey to bankruptcy and a near breakdown. The charges were dismissed last week but Bouchey will never re-cover her money or the years of stress the court case caused.
Raniere took $65.6 million from the Bronfman sisters and “lost” it all in commodities trading. However, there are evidently no records of the trades and Clare Bronfman told me she has no receipts documenting where any of the money went.
Raniere took another $26 million from the Bronfman sisters for a real estate development that turned out to be a scam. The developer, who was Raniere’s personal friend, was the same man who acted as the broker in the purported commodities trades. I uncovered that he stole $10 million from the Bronfman sisters, which I caused to have recovered for them in court. Then Raniere fired me.
Seagram heiress Clare W. Bronfman illegally planted a “key logger” virus on the computer of her own father, the late, billionaire, Edgar M. Bronfman Sr., so NXIVM could secretly monitor his emails, including his exchang-es with world leaders and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Raniere/Bronfman/NXIVM Corp. have as many as 75 shell companies, including alleged fake charities, ficti-tious loans with phantom interest to disguise gifts [and avoid millions in gift taxes] to Raniere and appear to be engaged in a classic Klein Conspiracy to defraud the government. Raniere urges his followers not to pay taxes, according to numerous sources.
Raniere tried to lure to Mexico four women who left NXIVM so he could punish them. According to a former NXIVM member now in hiding and the mother of Raniere’s child “Keith intended these women serious, seri-ous, emotional and physical harm.” Raniere is a very vengeful man who calls himself Vanguard. His favorite video game is also called Vanguard. It’s a game in which destroying enemies increases the fuel in the player’s tank.
Raniere offered to tutor the daughter of a woman who worked for him. Instead of teaching her Latin as he promised, Raniere had sex with the 12-year-old approximately 60 times in his townhouse, empty offices, an eleva-tor, a broom closet, anywhere. The girl – who spoke on the record – was so in fear of him she ran away from home so she wouldn’t have to see him again. She reported the statutory rapes to the state police two years later when she was 14 years old. The police did nothing.
Kristen Snyder committed suicide. She left a note saying she was brainwashed by NXIVM.
Raniere was accused of having numerous illegal Mexicans working for him and Clare Bronfman. One source claimed he had an underage Mexican boy videotape him having sex with the boy’s sisters and other women. The children were entrusted into Raniere’s care by their parents. One of these women was imprisoned by Rani-ere in a room for two years, the woman herself claimed. She escaped and fled to Mexico.
Heidi Hutchinson confronted Raniere for having sex with Gina Hutchinson her underage sister, a sexual relationship that started after he raped her. The confrontation occurred when Heidi caught him crawling through Gina’s bedroom window. Raniere told her girl’s soul was much older than her biological age and con-tinued to have sex with her. Gina was 15. She later went to a monastery in Woodstock and shot herself in the head. The sister said on the record that Raniere caused her sister’s death. Raniere also said in a chilling video that he has “had people killed because of his beliefs.”
We’ve already devoted a great deal of writing to Raniere’s sordid sex life. It’s an endless story. His former long-time girlfriend Toni Natalie called Raniere “a sex addict with bizarre desires and needs.”
Raniere repeatedly gained the trust of minors and/or their parents and then would sexually molested them.
After Times Union investigative reporter James Odato interviewed former lovers and sexual victims of Raniere he wrote, “They’ve said he is more than just a man with an endless sexual appetite. They’ve said he needs to be stopped.”
You can help stop Raniere and the cult by calling or writing to the FBI, the NY Attorney General or the IRS and tell them that based on all the articles you’ve read about Keith Raniere and NXIVM you believe these people need to be investigated. You don’t need to explain why they should be investigated, just refer them to the frankreport.com, a one-stop clearinghouse for all the alleged criminal and noncriminal atrocities committed by Keith Raniere.
Why would you do that? Because the next Raniere victim of rape or mental abuse may be your daughter, your niece or your sister. Keep in mind that Raniere / NXIVM recruits in Buffalo, has Buffalo lawyers and have had an office in Niagara Falls for years.
CONTACT:
Andrew Vale
Special Agent in Charge
F.B.I. Albany Division
200 McCarty Avenue
Albany, NY 12209
Phone: (518) 465-7551
IRS at 1-800-829-1040 for the Criminal Investigation Hotline
Eric T. Schneiderman
Office of the Attorney General
The Capitol
Albany, NY 12224-0341
1-800-771-7755